Freesound Forums

Hello Freesounders!

I'm working on a rather extensive how-to on connecting the Sound Devices MixPre and MixPre-D to the Zoom H4n, which should hopefully include useful advice on how to connect any line level outputs conveniently to the H4n.

The solution I'm basing my how-to on is this one:
http://freelancesoundlabs.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=83&Itemid=113

which in turn is based on this one:
http://www.danmccomb.com/posts/880/zoom-h4n-with-sound-devices-mixpre-how-to-properly-connect-the-two-for-pristine-audio/

After some research on the web and consulting with a few experts on the subject, I have added those skills to my existing cable making skills and equipment, and am now fortunate enough to be able to make my own custom cables with a suitable 20dB attenuator built in. Yay!

But I know that most people aren't so fortunate. And during my research I found that off-the-shelf inline attenuators really are unsuitable for this purpose because due to using the mono 6.5mm TS jack input on the H4n, the pads need to be unbalanced, and the impedance requirements for the MixPre require at least a 1200 ohm attenuator (MixPre outputs of 120 ohms for 20dB attenuation require an L-pad with a 1k1 inline resistor). The MixPre-D does ok with a 1k ohm one. So there is no easy product link I can point people to for resolving this issue, at least, not for MixPre-H4n users.

For the purposes of my how-to I'd like to be able to link people without the skills to make their own cables to retailers like http://www.audiogadgets.net/ which is based in the USA. Many of my readers are based around the world, so I'd like to include links to reputable retailers who make these kinds of custom cables, who are easily accessible to customers resident in Europe and/or elsewhere, and from whom ordering these kinds of custom cables with built in attenuator pads is easy and straightforward.

I'm all for better audio all round, and if some recordists don't care about the science, I'm cool with that.

Does anybody here have any experience with retailers anywhere in the world who do this kind of thing for those who can't? And if so would you kindly share links to them? It's really important to me to include an easy hassle-free option for people who don't care about the whys and wherefores.

Many thanks.

Pinknoise Systems make a TRS cable with a pad that is available in Europe. Or at least they used to.

Edit,

I see now that Pinknoise is mentioned in your second link.

Right, I forgot about Pink Noise, brilliant, they're perfect.

Thank you so much for reminding me! Sometimes I get bogged down in some minute details and forget others.

So that's Audiogadgets in the USA and Pink Noise in the UK. Great!

If anybody has other recommendations in those or any other locations I'd very much appreciate some info on those.

Searching the web with terms like 'custom audio cable attenuator' have yielded few usable results, and besides personal recommendations can be so much more reliable, so I'm really glad you guys are here to ask.

Many thanks!